Sunday, March 17, 2013

Status Update March 17, 2013

There are not enough hours in the day. I apologize, I have neglected this page. Those who know me through other media, know that I've been busy on Facebook etc., and that is like falling into a deep dark pit.

Over the past few months I've had my political hat on, getting ready for what might be a sudden election call in Ontario. But who knows?

As Leader of a registered political party that has no status in our Legislature (pictured) and little or no public profile, it is difficult to break into the daily political news cycle. Media releases help, and I've had some success (here after the 5:30m mark). Journalists are always looking for stories and they need to be fed. It takes time to craft media releases, then share them with others for suggestions and to integrate the comments. In the last month I've done six media releases on our new platform. All of them coincide with the first month of the "new" Ontario government. Well, actually it's not that new, it really fits well with the overused phrase "putting lipstick on a pig." The pig in this case is the almost ten year old Liberal government with a new leader. The new leader was an integral part of the former government, so the lingering stench around her is tough to shake.

The media releases started out with advise for the new Premier (here). My party has been developing a new platform since June 2012, and we would be delighted if other parties steal some of the ideas. We've taken ideas from members over the summer, fall and winter, but ultimately it came down to a couple of us hammering something together that is both acceptable to our fellow Libertarians and saleable to our target audience. That is no small feat, no pun intended.

The new and Current Libertarian Platform (here) is divided into five planks:

Each one of those is sketched out in the original document. The five media releases that followed, were based on the original document and added flesh to the planks. Over the next little while I'll have more to say about that, and I'll try to catch up on some of the things that happened over the past few weeks.

If you are on Facebook have a look at how we are using it to advertise to a targeted audience, it seems to be working. Click this link: Facebook, and join the conversation.

Last week, Larry Kummer posted a very thoughtful article here on WUWT: A
climate science milestone: a successful 10-year forecast! At first glance,
this di...

Republic of Canada

The short-lived Republic of Canada is a little-known chapter in Canadian history. From 1837 to 1838 William Lyon Mackenzie and a small group of supporters occupied Navy Island in the Niagara River. The rebels were agitating for a government that was both responsible and representative. Although their struggle was not successful, eventually these ideals came to be represented in the government of Upper Canada and, later, the country of Canada we now know. Liberty was such an important value to this little group that they put the word on the flag, making this short, but important, episode of Canadian history something worth remembering.